Philippines
This entry was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Manananggal of the Philippines is a completely different kind of entity, who thrives on chaos and carnage. A vampire, almost always female, she is depicted as a terrifying being with large wings who walks on earth until she spies her prey and then detaches her torso from her legs to fly quickly and attack. The legs remain in place until she has drained the blood from her victim and torn it apart, after which she reattaches herself and continues on. Her name, in fact, means “to remove” or “separate” which refers to this ability but, figuratively, could be applied to her savage attacks on her prey. Like many such mythological creatures, she is thought to be especially fond of children and, with her long, forked-tongue, sucks the life from a fetus while the pregnant mother is sleeping. Young married couples, grooms-to-be, and brides-to-be are also among its favorite targets but it could be warded off through charms and various spices. The Manananggal epitomized the fear of the dark and the unknown as, like all vampires, it could not endure sunlight which would kill it. If one could find and kill its lower half once it had detached (rubbing salt and/or garlic on it), the Manananggal would die but one risked the upper part returning while one attempted this.